The present invention relates to a cargo handling equipment located adjacent to a berth for ships or the like where in the variation of the water level is substantially large and an associated wharf has a sloped surface which is downwardly inclined in the direction of the offshore.
Heretofore, handling of general ship cargoes except for powder or granular materials or regular shape cargoes has been effected by making use of cranes located directly on a wharf or directly on a pier or cranes located directly on a ship.
In the utilization of such cranes, there is the disadvantages that if the water level varied substantially, the lift potential of the crane becomes substantially impaired resulting in a degradation of cargo handling efficiency and also the cargo is dangerously exposed to a loss of stability due to the wind.
Accordingly, one method of obviating the aforementioned disadvantages, is to use barges in conjunction with the use of an expansible and contractible pier located or a floating pier between a barge and the shore.
In the above-mentioned case, not only is the construction expense of a pier large, but in view of the fact that the barge is unstable and would move up and down or tilt in accordance with variations of loading thereon and or variations of the flow direction and speed of water caused by tides or the like, the use of barges is limited, and therefore, the operation of cargo handling equipment associated therewith is not always satisfactory where a variation of water level such as, for example, a difference of water level between the high and low tides is substantial.
The present invention has been developed in view of the abovedescribed disadvantages of the prior art.
One object of the present invention to provide a cargo handling apparatus which functions so as to eliminate the disadvantages of the cargo handling equipment of the prior art while being very simple construction.
According to one feature of the present invention, there is provided cargo handling apparatus comprising a crane truck, adapted to travel in a path along a wharf having a sloped surface and to be fixedly positioned in the proximity of a mooring position of a ship for the loading or unloading of cargoes, and a cargo transportation truck or trucks adapted to travel in a path parallel and adjacent to the path of the crane truck on one side or both sides thereof which extends between a crane positioned on the shore side of the wharf sloping surface and the crane truck fixedly positioned adjacent the ship.
According to the present invention, since the cargo handling apparatus is constructed as described above and since the cargo handling apparatus operates in such manner, such that after the crane truck has traveled along the wharf sloped surface and has been fixedly positioned in the proximity of the mooring position of the ship or the like which is maintained position corresponding to a water level at that time, the cargo transportation truck or trucks of the present invention travels along the path adjacent to path of the crane truck on one side or both sides thereof between the shore crane and the crane truck, however since the water level may change, the crane truck is adapted to be moved and fixedly set at a position corresponding to the proximity of the mooring position of the ship or the like which is determined as a function of the water level.
Therefore, even if the water level changes substantially due to the high and low tides or the like resulting in a large shift of the mooring position of the ship or the like according to the present invention, the cargo handling work can be achieved at a high efficiency with a cargo handling apparatus having a very simple construction, and which can function without being substantially affected by variations in water level between the high and low tides. Also the cargo handling apparatus according to the present invention is not as expensive in construction cost as compared to the cargo handling equipment of the prior art.